Who was Frank Kozik? Graphic artist who died at 61
Iconic graphic designer Frank Kozik, who was behind designing the covers for music albums of bands such as The Offsprings and Queens of the Stone Age, passed away recently. He was 61 years old at the time of his death. The sudden passing away of the artist was confirmed by Sharon, his wife. However, she didn't reveal the exact cause of his death.
Family confirmed Kozik passed away on Saturday
The family of the deceased issued a statement, confirming his death. "We are devastated to inform you that Frank Kozik passed away unexpectedly this past Saturday. Frank was a man larger than himself, an icon in each of the genres he worked in. He dramatically changed every industry he was a part of. He was a creative force of nature," read the statement.
Who was Kozik?
The graphic designer was born in Madrid, Spain on January 9, 1962. The formative years of his childhood were spent in Spain growing up under the fascist director Francisco Franco. Later, in his teenage years, he moved to the United States of America where he began to live in Sacramento with his father who joined the Air Force and was stationed in Austin.
Kozik was a self-taught artist
The late artist started creating artwork for his friends in his late teen days. Before making concert posters, Kozik used to design telephone poles and black and white flyers. Kozik went on to create posters for bands such as Green Day, Nirvana, The White Stripes, Pearl Jam, and Neil Young. Apart from designing work, he also directed music videos.
He owned a record label
Later in the years, Kozik started his own record label company by the name of Man's Ruin Records. His company released over 200 albums and songs by many artists including Sex Pistols. The debut album of Queens of the Stone Age was also released through his record label, apart from designing artwork for them. Moving forward, he ventured into creating collectibles for kids.
The association with DC and Marvel
When Kozik forayed into the collectibles business in the early 1990s, he eventually started making action figures for children. One of his iconic creations is the Labbit character which showed rabbits smoking vinyl. He further collaborated with Marvel and DC to make superhero-inspired collectibles. Interestingly, he also collaborated with Swatch and Nike. Kozik was known to inspire a generation of graphic designers.
